Reunion at the Leaky
by Hydrochloric Cutie
Summary: Neville has come back from his long educational journey all over the world to take his spot as Herbology Professor at Hogwarts when Professor Sprout wants to retire. He meets up with an old friend and the rest is history...


Reunion at the Leaky

After traveling for alternate schooling for seven years after his Hogwarts graduation, Neville Longbottom returned to London to accept the position of Hogwarts' new Herbology professor. He found a small flat in Diagon Alley, but he had to wait a week before he could move in, so the settlement could be finalized and all the paperwork. He needed a small room to live in for the week, so where else to go but the infamous Leaky Cauldron. He knew very few people would recognize him, since he went through quite a transformation over the past few years. He was tall, around 6'3" and had finally filled out, so he was no longer the chubby kid or the gawky teenager. He lost the majority of his 'baby fat' as well, so he was trim and lean. His dirty blond hair was now a darker brown and had a stylish shaggy look to it, and it fell nearly to his eyes, which were still their beautiful hazel color.

He walked into the old pub, only to find it not as dank and damp feeling as it had before. It was well lit and very clean. All the patrons were smiling and cheery, not in the mourning like when he had left. It seemed that everyone had moved on after the final battle. There was a rather attractive woman working behind the bar, one who looked strangely like Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff he had gone to school with all those years ago.

"Where's the landowner?" Neville asked the nearest person, who pointed at the Hannah look-a-like. "Thanks."

Neville walked over to the bar and too up one of the stools, waiting for the barmaid's attention. It only took her a few minutes to get over to him. "What can I get for you honey?"

"A pint and a room, beautiful," he flirted.

"Aye, that I can do," she replied with a wink. After a few minutes, she returned with a tall foaming glass of amber liquid and a key. "You new in town?"

"I've been gone for around seven years," he said before taking a sip of his pint.

"Well, I'm Harrah," she said cheerily, extending her hand to shake his.

"I remember you Miss Abbott," Neville said, taking her hand to kiss the back of it. "I mean I know I've changed quite a bit since graduation, but I thought you of all people would still recognize me."

"We went to Hogwarts together?"

"Yeah, seven whole years."

"What house were you in?" she asked, completely perplexed by who he was.

"Ah, Gryffindor," he replied, smiling genuinely.

"I'm terribly sorry, I don't recognize you. Please tell me?" Hannah implored.

"I can't believe it," he replied, shaking his head in disbelief. "You don't even recognize your old Herbology partner."

"Nev!?" Hannah cried out. She squealed and ran out from behind the bar to give him a hug. He picked her up and spun her around. "Damn you look good!"

"I try," he smirked, putting her down.

"Oh wow, you're gonna have lunch with me," she insisted. "My afternoon off is long overdue."

"Alright then, I can't deny a lunch invite from a beautiful woman," he said.

"Come on, we'll go up to my flat for a spot to eat." Neville followed her up to her own quarters, which was rather modest, even for a single person. He sat at her kitchen table, much to her insistence that she make lunch. He looked around for any sign of a male presence. But he found none. "So Hannah, you're done well for yourself."

"I guess so, I mean, Uncle Tom wanted to retire and I offered to take over," she said as she made them some hamburgers, magically helped along. "So you need to tell me what you have been up to. For what? The past seven years?"

"Well, Professor Sprout had recommended me for the Spore Emporium, that fancy Herbology school out in Ireland. I studied there for four years, graduated top of my class. Then I did graduate studies in Tanzania, Togo, and Brazil for three years. Now Professor Sprout is retiring and offered me the teaching position for next year."

"Oh wow, that sounds amazing Nev," she said, flipping the patties over. "Any women I need to know about? I wouldn't want them coming up to beat me for stealing you away from here."

"Nah, no lovelies for me; had a bit of fun at the Emporium, but nothing too serious, no psycho ex's you need to worry about," he joked. "What about you? I'm betting you have guys just beating the door down."

"Not really, it's the same as it was at Hogwarts, though I grew out of that awkward-ness, if I say so myself."

"You go right on and say it," Neville said as she put his place of burger, chips, and a pickle in front of him. "You're gorgeous."

She blushed. "Thanks, Nev." They ate their lunch and made small talk about now they had gotten to where they were. She filled Neville in on what had happened in England since he's been gone. "Yeah, Harry married Ginny, has one son, James, and Gin is preggers again. Ron finally manned up and married Hermione, and she's preggers. Seamus and Lavender got married a year out of school and have three daughters, some flower names."

"Damn, I always knew Shay was fertile, feckin' Irish," Neville chuckled. "What about Dean? Heard anything about him?"

"Um," she thought, munching on a portion of her pickle. "I think he ran off with Padma Patil. They have a kid last time I heard. Ernie went off and married a Muggle, Terry married some girl Cora from 2 years behind us. I'm sure you're heard that Luna Lovegood married Rolf Scamander."

"Oh yeah, I saw a few pictures in a magazine," he said after swallowing a bite of burger. "What about Susan? She still your best friend?"

"We've grown apart, really. She's shacked up with Blaise Zabini right now," Hannah said tiredly, rubbing her hand through her hair. "She's been on a downward spiral since the war. Moving from Justin to the bloke Cormac McClaggen, to Theo Nott and now Blaise. I mean, I've spoken to him and he seems decent enough, and he's promised to take care of her."

"That's good then, I mean, I remember him being a bit of a prat back in school, but people change I guess… you've changed."

"How," she asked, a bit confused.

"You hardly spoke to anyone in Hogwarts. And today you greeted 'a perfect stranger' in an extremely friendly, and might I say provocative, manner. You're bubbly now, full of life," he explained.

"I see your point, but the 'bubbly' personality as you so aptly call it, comes with the territory. You need to be a people-person if you're running one of the most famous pubs in the wizarding world."

"I bet," he agreed.

"You know, you've changed a hell of a lot yourself," she said. I mean you leave as my teddy bear and you come back a hunk. All the baby fat is gone."

"I thought people might be surprised," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly.

"I like it, I really do. You act differently now, carrying yourself better I supposed," she said, finishing off her burger.

"Well I don't have people like Malfoy telling me that I'm not fit to carry a wand. I don't have others making fun of me. I don't have Professor Snape intimidating me," Neville said. "I'm actually quite good at potions, once he got off my back. The professors at the Emporium were so good to all of us."

"That's wonderful," she said. "I always knew you were one of the smart ones. You ran the DA very well."

'_She had to bring it up first,_' he thought. They had been quite close at that time. She sparked his interest in girls. They had fooled around quite a bit, lost their virginities to each other. Nothing could be concrete because both were being hunted for different reasons. Now he felt a flutter behind his naval, one he hadn't felt in quite a long time.

"Er, yeah, the DA," Neville said, running his fingers nervously through his hair. "They were good times."

"Yeah they were," Hannah said wistfully.

"I still think about it from time to time," he replied quietly, finishing the last of his chips.

"To tell you the truth, I haven't seen any action since then," Hannah said as she gathered their dishware.

"Let me get it," Neville insisted. "It's the least I can do since you cooked." She agreed reluctantly. "So, were you serious?"

"About what?"

"Not getting ANY action?" he asked as he scrubbed the plates the Muggle way. "I don't believe it."

"Why not? I'm not exactly easy to get along with," she replied stubbornly.

"Ah, that's the Han I remember," he said, walking from the clean dishes to stand in front of her. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close to him. "See, what I'm seein' is irresistible, I'm guessing you've never shown anyone this side of you."

"Um, n-not really," she stammered. She growled and buried her face in his shirt. "I've not stammered since you left, you prat."

Neville chuckled and tilted her head up. "Good." And he leaned down to kiss her. She sighed and felt like putty in his arms once more. Some how she managed to wrap her arms around his neck to pull herself even closer. His lips were far more skillful than they were all those years ago, and they were devilish. His tongue snuck out to trace her bottom lip, betting to be let into his old 'playground'. She readily acquiesced, wanting to feel what she felt all those years ago. But now the feeling was different. All of his body parts hit her in different spots now; his chest and stomach were no longer soft and cushy, but firm and flat, it felt rather nice. His one hand felt so sure of itself, pressing lightly into her lower back, while his other hand had taken up residence at the back of her head, tangled in her hair, keeping her mouth fused to his. The kiss began quickly and tapered off slowly. "Just as I remember," he said, slightly out of breath.

"Indeed," she said before moving back in for the kill. She braced both hand on his shoulders before jumping up to wrap his legs around his waist. He braced himself by gripping the back of her shoulders and one arm under her bottom. She dove right back in to kiss him once more. He responded happily, slowly walking over to push her against the nearest wall. She threw her head back and moaned softly, allowing Neville to attack her neck… which he did. He left a decent sized love bite on her pulse point. "Bedroom?" he questioned.

"Right next to us," she panted. He nodded and walked them into her bedroom and set her down. Neville's fingers go busy with the buttons of her work shirt, wrestling them free from their holes. Once they were all free, he peeled the shirt from her torso and leaned back to admire his handy work. She had changed quite a bit since their fling in 7th year, but not in a bad way; not at all. She was tugging on the bottom of his shirt. Soon it nearly got caught on his hearts, as usual, but they just laughed it off. He leaned down to trail open mouth kisses on her exposed collarbone. He reached around with one arm and unhooked the back of her bra, peeling it off her skin. She was practically mewling at the attention he was giving her; God's how she missed this. Neville picked her up once more and laid her on the bed.

"So beautiful," he murmured. Her pants were the next thing to go and she still taunted him with her simple cotton panties, which happened to be pale pink today. He took his wand out of his pants pocket and vanished the rest of their clothes. He knelt on the bed before he leaned down to kiss her once more. She pulled him down so his full body was in contact with hers. He groaned as all her flesh felt like fire on his, and if she was fire, he wanted to get burned, forever.

She frenzied. He calmed. Her desperation made him go slow, not only to tease but to enhance. He had gathered a few skills over the past few years and all he wanted was to show her what it truly felt to be loved. She made noises none of his other cohorts had made and he enjoyed every gasp; every moan; and all the occasional squeaks. "Slow, nice and easy," he murmured before nibbling on her ear. "Slow enough to make you remember."

"Mmm," she moaned in agreement. He was true to his word. He slipped inside her, tenderly, warm and tight.

"Look at me," he demanded softly as she closed her eyes. Her eyes opened and blue met brown. He began to stroke smoothly, softly. He could see her pupils getting larger, her eyes clouding over. Enjoyment was evident on her face as well as his, but he upped the ante. Hooking one arm under her left leg and pulled it up, pinning her knee to her shoulder before sliding up into her once more. , this time he went deeper. Despite her natural inclination to close her eyes, she kept her gaze looked with his. His large, rough, hands caressed her face ever so gently as if she'd break. He felt his release building from the pit of his stomach, bubbling, nearly crashing over. His hand left her face and reached to where they were joined at; the pad of his thumb brushed against her, she gasped. He kept this up, her moaning getting louder, his name being called out. Soon enough he felt her tighten around him, her eyes completely clouded over. They broke eye contact as Neville's release hit, flowing from his body he rested his forehead in the crook of her neck.

They were both panting from a long awaited release. He was collapsed on her but had just enough strength to keep all of his weight from crushing her. She, however, had a different idea. Wrapping her arms around his back, she pulled him the rest of the way down. "M' I crushin' you?" he mumbled.

"No, perfect," she murmured back, caressing his back, which still held evidence of the torture inflicted upon him when they were back at school.

He pulled himself out and off of her, rolling to his back and rolling her on top of him as well. She made a contented moan and snuggled into his broad chest. "I want to do this," he said quietly. "I mean 'us'. I want there to be an 'us' this time."

"Hmm?"

"Last time, we couldn't because of the war and now there is no war, no reason for us not to have a real relationship," Neville reasoned. "I've always had a thing for you Han, and I would really like to be more."

"I don't know…" she said warily. "I mean, I've got the Leaky, you've got your teaching, there's just so much going on in our lives."

"I know but when the going gets tough, you make lemonade," he said, proud of himself for using a Muggle saying.

"Oh Merlin! You mixed two different Muggle sayings, Nev," she chuckled. "It's 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going' and 'when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade'."

"See, I need you around to interpret my Muggle-isms, and for a place to keep my hands." He left his hand crawl up to rest on her bottom.

"You could find someone else to keep your hands occupied," she muttered.

"But I don't want anyone else," he said sincerely. "I want us to be real this time around. I want to tell people that I'm dating the gorgeous Hannah Abbott."

"Only if you're sure…" she couldn't finish her phrase because Neville had silenced her with a kiss. She responded and felt her whole body begin to hum again. "Mm, Nev."

"I know, me too," he agreed, sliding her down his body so he could sheath himself in her. The covers fell away from her body and she became modest all of a sudden. Neville eased her hips into a smooth rhythm, and she slowly eased up, allowing herself to caress his chest and lean down for a kiss.

He kept her mouth fused to his for a deep, soul-penetrating kiss, leaving her breathless. When she say back up, her hips swiveled, causing him to cry out. She froze, thinking she did something wrong, something to hurt him. "No, don't stop, felt so good," he mumbled. Hannah lifted herself and swiveled her hips as she came down, teasing him. She began to suck on her finger, moving in and out of her mouth – according to her last talk with Susan, this drove men wild. It wasn't a lie. "Han, you're killing me," he groaned, sitting up, pulling her off of him. "Hands and knees," he ordered gently. She complied readily. He caressed her shoulders, ghosting over her back before gripping her hips. He slid home, deeper. All Hannah could do was cry out. He was powerful, and her elbows buckled under the sensations. One hand kept a hold on her hop but the other went over to caress her stomach. It didn't take long for either one of them to finish from this position, and it felt like the coiled spring of desire finally snapped.

This was just how it should be Neville thought just before they drifted off to sleep for the rest of the night.


End file.
